Canosa Now Facing Murder Charges

The Sheriff's Investigator who was shot at his home has died and his estranged wife is now charged with murder.

Bob Canosa was shot several times at his Unionville home on the morning of December 11th. Brenda Canosa was arrested that night at her Madison County home.

Investigator Canosa died Sunday afternoon at the University of Virginia Medical Center from complications. Brenda Canosa is now charged with first-degree murder.

She is at the Central Virginia Regional Jail awaiting a first court appearance on the murder charge.

Reported By NBC29 HD News

Press Release From The Virginia State Police

A Madison County woman now faces first-degree murder following the death of her estranged husband, an Orange County Deputy Sheriff. Robert V. Canosa, 55, of Rochelle, Va., died Sunday afternoon (Dec. 20) at UVA Hospital from complications of having been shot multiple times at his Orange County residence Dec. 11, 2009.

His estranged wife, Brenda Lee Canosa, 49, of Jack Shop Road in Rochelle, Va., was initially charged with one count of attempted first-degree murder, one count of malicious wounding and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a felony. Virginia State Police took Ms. Canosa into custody Dec. 11, 2009, night at her residence without incident. She was taken to the Central Virginia Regional Jail.

At 6:08 a.m. on Dec. 11, 2009, the Orange County Sheriff's Office received a call about a shooting that had occurred in the 13000 block of Marquis Road in the Unionville community. When deputies arrived, they discovered the victim to be Orange County Sheriff's Office Investigator Canosa. Canosa had been with the Orange County Sheriff's Office since August 2007. He was off-duty at the time of the shooting.

Upon learning that the incident involved one of its members, the Orange County Sheriff's Office requested the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation's Culpeper Field Office to take over the investigation.